Episcopal bishop: Gay marriage is a ‘conservative proposal’

Legalizing same-sex marriage is “a conservative proposal” consistent with basic Christian teaching and the Christian life, Episcopal Bishop Greg Rickel argues in a statement to be released on Thursday.

The bishop’s statement will be read during an afternoon news conference, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, at which Protestant and Jewish leaders from the faith community — and Catholics for Marriage Equality — will argue for passage of Referendum 74 on the November ballot.

The state’s four Catholic bishops have written pastoral statements and recorded videos opposing marriage equality, and Referendum 74, arguing that God is the author of marriage between a man and a woman with procreation as a central goal.

Rickel, who has served since 2007 as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia, which includes all of Western Washington, presents a quite different faith perspective.

“Christianity has held, when considering relationships of all sorts — but especially in relation to two people in marriage — fidelity to be our value,” Bishop Rickel writes. “Fidelity is the value in most all our sacraments, and also in our life as Christians.”

“It seems to me we have held our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters in a Catch-22. We say they cannot live up to our value because they cannot be married, or even blessed in their union. While many of them have begged for this, it is still not possible.”

“If one would think about this carefully, it would be clear what they ask of us, the church and their government, is to put boundaries around their relationship, to hold them in the same regard and with the same respect, which would also mean that we expect the same from them, as any loving heterosexual couple.”

The issue of same-sex marriage, and the consecration of gay and lesbian bishops, has caused division in the Episcopal Church.

Four conservative dioceses withdrew from the Episcopal Church after a gay prelate, the Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, was installed in 2003 as Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire. Robinson gave the invocation during one ceremony at President Obama’s inauguration.

The 2012 General Convention of the Episcopal Church gave a go-ahead to a provisional rite for same sex unions. Called “The Witnessing and Blessing of a Lifelong Covenant,” the ceremony includes prayers and the exchange of vows and rings.

Rickel voted with the majority as the church’s House of Bishops approved the rite by a 111-41 vote. Each Episcopal bishop has authority to decide whether to allow the ceremonies in his or her diocese.

Seattle’s Catholic Archbishop J. Peter Sartain testified against marriage equality before the State Senate last winter. He later asked Catholic parishes to become signature collection centers for the petition drive to force a vote on same-sex marriage.

Rickel initially made his views known in a “bishop’s blog” on the Diocese of Olympia website.

In the statement for Thursday’s news conference, he concludes:

“They (gays and lesbians) are not asking for special treatment. They are asking for equal treatment. They are asking to be accountable, as a couple, in community. To me, this is a conservative proposal.”

“I am for it, and I hope we will finally make way for this to happen, not only in our society, but also in our church.”

Three states — Washington, Maryland and Maine — are voting on same-sex marriage this November.

A fourth state, Minnesota, will vote on a contrary measure — heavily supported by Catholic bishops — that would enshrine a definition of marriage as between a man and a woman into the state constitution.

In Washington, polls have shown support for Referendum 74 hovering at 50 percent of the vote.